<p>I am in the final process of completing my applications through the Common Application and I am wondering should I forward my Questbridge application. I know the deadline is tomorrow and I am asking late, I do apologize. I was not selected as a finalist and I want to know whether forwarding the QB app will compliment my app to where admissions officer's might look at it more diligently than just with the common app. The thing I am most worried about is that my QB app was never 'complete', one of my recommenders did not submit her recommendation on time (and I think that's what probably hurt me the most through QB). But she is submitting her recommendation through the Common app. And my essays on both apps are very similar, but I believe the way I did my Common app essays is better. </p>
<p>The schools I am applying to are Columbia, Princeton, MIT, Northwestern, Trinity College, Rice, UPenn, USC, and Tufts. Fee waivers are not a real problem, I have waivers to Columbia, Princeton, MIT, USC and Tufts through the Collegeboard and NACAC. But I think I do have to forward the app to UPenn, Rice, and Trinity College (and all did say on the QB website they will waive the fee).</p>
<p>Tufts here! Honestly, the QB app is so full and you have so much opportunity to talk about yourself and your life that if you forward the QB app, you’re just done for Tufts. No need to send in the Common App at all. If you’re worried about getting us that last teacher rec, you could always just have that rec sent on its own. </p>
<p>Of course, every QB partner schools wants you to do something new, but generally, I think that submitting the common app in order to get a school the extra rec is probably not going to help you (as versus just sending them the rec).</p>
<p>Would I also be able to submit a resume? There were some things I couldn’t list in the QB app that I wanted to and it elaborates more on the things I did mention. I think ultimately that I will not submit the QB app, I feel the essay for Common App I wrote was in a way better, but I feel I expressed myself well through the other questions. If I do decide to submit it will it cause too much inconvenience for Tufts?</p>
<p>We can figure it out if you feel strongly. --but, I’d still like to stress that others shouldn’t feel like they have to do the same (at least for Tufts… every QB school will probably have a slightly different opinion).</p>
<p>As for a resume, I try to discourage those. There’s always more you can elaborate on - I mean, if there wasn’t, then it wouldn’t be worth listing that thing at all - but you need to focus our attention on, really, the most important things about the most important things. Too much can get in the way of that focus, and nearly always, the resumes don’t add. I can think of only two instances (out of thousands) where a resume helped and I can think of many more where it was extra paper that distracted me from your biggest priorities. </p>
<p>I mean, I understand the impulse: you want us to have a complete picture, and you have more you can say, so you want to say it. This is important stuff, after all. But, you’ll never ever ever be able to truly paint the full picture; there is so much more to you and your life than what you could fit into a college app even if that app was 100 pages long. So the goal, really, isn’t to give us the “complete” picture, but to give us the most important or the most emblematic pieces of information that you can - to sometimes tell us about smaller things that reflect on the big things. </p>
<p>It makes perfect sense. I know what you mean that I could elaborate and elaborate and still wouldn’t be complete. It makes sense and I know admissions has a lot of applications to read in a short amount of time. But my reasoning for wanting to submit a resume is that I do not want to bombard the admissions with every little detail that I do for each activity, if I did it would be much, much longer. But for example, in one program over the summer there were about three different activities that are noteworthy in my life, and I couldn’t explain what they were on either the Common app or QB app, I’m only allowed 40 characters to explain. There are certain obstacles in my life that through certain accomplishments resonate what I have been able to accomplish in spite of them. In essence, I do not want to give a resume that just lists and lists activities, I want to give one that TRULY paints a slight glimpse of who I am, which I do not believe I can put into 40 character sentences as effectively.</p>
<p>As for the QB app, I read it over and over, talk to people and it did not have a right feel to it. So instead I will just sent the Common App. </p>
<p>Thank you for all your help, and I hope it is not to much inconvenience.</p>
<p>Oh and I forgot to mention that the supplement for Tufts I think will actually allow me to elaborate my life obstacles in the same manner as the QB app did. Again thank you for everything.</p>
<p>DansAdmiss@Tufts I would like to apologize for taking away too much of your time. BrownParent did point out that I was redundant in asking for advice and not really paying attention. I’m just really nervous and a little stressed because I am going through this process all by myself and maybe I’m not making clear choices.</p>
--but, I’d still like to stress that others shouldn’t feel like they have to do the same (at least for Tufts… every QB school will probably have a slightly different opinion).</p>